First Impressions / Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai

「Coupling with with with with」

As an interesting change of pace, this week’s episode doesn’t start a new girl’s arc and focuses on Elsie instead. We can never have too much Elsie can we? I know I can’t, not when she’s adorable as “hell” even when she’s upset about Keima hating her cooking. Evidently, the whole “it doesn’t taste nearly as bad as it looks” reaction he had when she force-fed him doesn’t mean much when his lunch has tons of eyeballs and is squirming about. However, Elsie does go out of her way to try and make a strawberry cake for Keima at fellow classmate Kosaka Chihiro’s (Asumi Kana) suggestion, which led to all the wacky antics once she brought out the ingredients from hell. Hellish or not, I don’t even want to know why Elsie was going to use fertilized eggs for cooking. One hatched Mandragon later and she’s sent running for her dear life while continuing to mix the cake batter every step of the way. Between the cuteness that Elsie exuded to the tune of her “Oh!☆My GOD!!” insert song and the crap that Keima had to take from his teacher Kodama Ichirou (Nakao Ryuusei), there actually wasn’t a lot happening leading up to Keima secretly eating her cake even though he claimed to hate sweets. In lieu, the episode was broken down into five mini ones that told the same story from different perspectives, similar to the screenplay seen in Baccano and Durarara. While unique, the most notable aspect is that the script was written by Wakaki Tamiki himself — the creator of the Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai manga.

Having not read the original source material, I can’t say whether or not something similar actually shows up there, but one could probably consider this canonical in any case due to Tamiki’s involvement. In a lot of ways, it felt like a bonus episode with him as the guest writer though. From Elsie’s “elaborate” replacement technique to Mari’s aggressive take on peeping toms, this proved to be a fairly lighthearted affair. Regardless, it did have some more meaningful moments surrounding Elsie’s relationship with Keima, so that was a bit refreshing after Kanon’s three-episode arc. As mentioned last time, I have nothing against Kanon’s arc, but was left with the lingering feeling that it was one episode longer than it needed to be. Because of that, I found myself looking forward to seeing the story move onto the next loose soul more than usual. Getting this episode about Elsie instead proved to be a bit of a treat as a result, since it features her version of the “Symbol of Love” ending theme in addition to the aforementioned insert song. I may be a bit biased towards an Itou Kanae played character bringing all the cuteness, but I probably get more enjoyment from watching Elsie’s interactions with Keima than the actual targets themselves. Granted, the series sort of rides that appeal in connection with the premise that has Keima winning over real girls. Still, I question if it’d be as enjoyable to watch if we had say an abusive girl from hell rather than a kindhearted and devoted one. I’m normally all for the stereotypical tsundere character, but when it’s as overused as it’s been, the nice girl one is quickly becoming one I should take note of in future series. Sora no Manimani anyone?

 

ED5 Sequence

ED5: 「コイノシルシ from Elsie」 (Koi no Shirushi from Elsie) by エルシィ starring 伊藤かな恵 (Elsie starring Itou Kanae)
Watch the 5th ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

Preview

53 Comments

  1. so far after every arc we got a comedy filler episode. And yes, this is in the manga as well.

    Btw, the official spelling, which can be seen in the first volume of the manga on the cover of chapter 3, of her name is Elsea.

    minikui
    Reply

      2. takami’s liking elsea’s popularity because of the anime. he even made a special chapter just for elsea recently.

        i’ve followed the manga starting around kanon’s chapter. takami didn’t do this part of the manga(as far as i remembered) from different character’s perspective.. and he never used the style but here in the anime.

        MrRei
        Reply

  2. They used a single comedy chapter in the story to fill in before we start the next girl. And that’s really how the actual manga works. Have the arc, have a comedy moment or two, head back to a new arc. Works wonders.

    As a manga reader, I’m actually glad that we get more of Keima’s inner thoughts during the anime. It allows me to better understand his thought process and how he actually is probably just like these girls. He has some sort of trauma in his life that made him this way. Contrary to what everyone says about him always having games in his life.

    Dorian
    Reply

  5. RAGEEEEE!!! I was watching the anime while reading the manga chapter in parallel to it (Chapt. 11 – “Elsee is soo sweet”) and was extremely disappointed that they decided to do a different take on it. It would have been much sweeter (not to mention develop the relationship between Katsuragi and Elsee even more) if they ended the episode the same way as the manga did.

    I suggest that, if you’re not following the manga, you should read that chapter… Just for sake of comparison.

    SirMuffin
    Reply

  6. yep, this was in the manga, I think they even made it better than the original even though they lost the original meaning for this ep, I found the part where keima’s mom goes angry and the ‘lunchbox’ eating the mandrake awesome

    amado
    Reply

  7. For a second I thought I downloaded the wrong show from the mother’s fanservice.

    https://randomc.net/image/Kami%20nomi%20zo%20Shiru%20Sekai/Kami%20nomi%20zo%20Shiru%20Sekai%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2004.jpg

    https://randomc.net/image/Kami%20nomi%20zo%20Shiru%20Sekai/Kami%20nomi%20zo%20Shiru%20Sekai%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2016.jpg

    These are just too cute. Enjoyed it more than the manga, mostly cause they cut out some of the repetitiveness. But LOL at the random inclusion of a song. Are they actually going to sell that?

    btw to manga readers, is there some point in the Manga where the plot picks up/turns around where its not following the pattern of Keima conquering his weekly girl+comedy filler chapter. From what I hear later arcs are really good, I just want to know around what chapter the juicier stuff starts? (Assuming there is such a point)

    Saya
    Reply

      2. its not really that he comes to the revelation but more like ‘someone’ gives him the revelation of another quick way to finish it, as for the someone(WARNING! major spoiler ahead)Show Spoiler ▼

        plus the ‘someone’ also reveals what the loose souls really are…

        amado
        Reply

      4. @MrRei Oh no I know it won’t be animated, I meant anticipate it in the manga. I’ve only read up to the fifth girl but so far most of it seems pretty much like introductory stuff…kind of like the the weekly monster for Bleach before they go to/learn about soul society and all sorts of wonderful crap.

        Saya
        Reply

  22. Crazy episode is crazy, though made me laughed and I loved the mother fanservice here.

    Wasn’t there supposed to be a part here after Elsea bumps into Keima with her mixing bowl, where Keima basically laid out the probable paths for Elsea lie in a galge and then quickly disregarding it?

    Gaze of Providence
    Reply

    2. ROFLMFAO!!
      Ahh, you beat me to it! Yes, it is! I LOL’d maad hard when I saw that scene. I grew up with that big furry fella. Totoro was my Little Mermaid back in the day. Instead of Disney Classics, I’d watching Miyazaki Classics and films of the like. xD

      But yeah! She’s too freakin’ adorable. She’s already got my vote for best MOE service this season. ♥ <3

      Shirt
      Reply

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